Transmission line device



July 7, 1931. G. M. EATON TRANSMISSION LINE DEVICE Filed April 29, 1927 INVENTOR w ge M 15:770/7 ATTORNEY Patented July 7, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT! OFFICE GEORGE E. EATON, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIO'NOB '10 WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC & MANUFACTURING COMPANY, A. CORPORATION 01' PENNSYLVANIA TRANSMISSION LINE DEVICE Application filed April 29,

, My invention relates to transmission-line devices and particularly to electrostatic-fielddistributing rings or toroids for high-voltage insulators.

One object of my invention is to provide a device of the above-indicated character that shall be simple and durable in construction economical to manufacture and effective in its operation.

Another object of my invention is to provide a high-voltage, field-distributing ring that shall permit its mounting in, and removal from, position around an insulator, intermediate the ends of the latter, without removal of the insulator support or the conductor supported by the insulator at its ends.

Another object of my invention is to provide an insulator ring device that shall be so supported at a single local position thereon go as to materially economize its manufacture and simplify its installation.

Another object of my invention is to provide a method of making field-controlling insulator rings whereby single simple winding 26 and cutting operations produce a plurality of the rings from a single element in an expeditious manner.

Another object of m invention is to provide a method of insta ling an arc-assuming 30 ring for an insulator whereby the ring is tem orarily deformed into a helix and rotata ly threaded about the conductor, extending transversely to the insulator, into position about the insulator.

A further ob'ect of my invention is to provide a yielda le or elastic ring having a single radial cut, permitting lateral displacement of the ends formed by the cut, and a single radial supporting arm attached to the ring with its axis in the plane of the cut whereby one of said ends may be permanently and the other end separably, connected to the arm.

With such objects in view, as well as other advantages which may be incident to the utilization of the improvement, the invention consists in the parts and combinations thereby hereinafter set forth and claimed, with the understanding that the several 50 necessary elements constituting the same 1927. Serial No. 187,617.

may be varied in proportion, arrangement and texture without departing from the nature and scope of the invention.

In certain high-voltage transmission-line practice, it is customary to place a metal ring, or toroid having a conducting outer surface, around a suspension, or pin, insulator intermediate the insulator support and the conductor, at the ends of the insulator.

In certain installations, one of these rin is employed near the conductor end of t e insulator, and, in other structures a ring is employed near each end of the insulator.

It has heretofore, been suggested to employ solid or integral rings which require that the insulators be disconnected, either from the pole, tower or other support or that the conductor be disconnected from the insulator. In either case, the procedure is troublesome and expensive.

It has, also, been suggested to employ halved rings, the halves of which require separate manufacturing and mounting operations, that are relatively expensive and difficult to manipulate.

It is my aim to overcome all of the difliculties and objections, above-mentioned, and to provide a ring structure that is of ready and economical manufacture, that is reduced to substantially a minimum of material, that is easy to install and that has other advantages over similar structures heretofore employed.

Accordingly, in practicing my invention, I provide a one-piece ring of such material and construction as to permit the ready and ecos5 nomical production of similar rings in quantity lots and which may be mounted quickly and with great facility around an insulator already in service, without disconnecting the insulator at either end.

In order to make the invention more clearly understood, means are shown in the accompanying drawings for carrying the same into practical efi'ect without limiting the improvements in their useful applications to the particular construction which, for the purpose of explanation, are made the subject ofi ustration.

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of a portion of a series-string suspension insulator 100 structure having a field-distributing ring of my invention thereon,

Fig. 2 is an enlarged plan view of a porconstructed, 4

Fig. 5 is a view, similar to Fig. 3, with the ring 1n open position, ready for mounting or dismounting, and

Fig. 6 is a view, similar to Fig. 5, of a. modified form of my invention.

Referring to Figs. 1 to 3, inclusive, an insulator structure, for which my invention is adapted, may comprise, in general, seriesconnected suspension insulators 2 for connection at the upper end thereof to a pole or tower cross arm (not shown), a clamp 3 for supporting a conductor4, a link 5 that is connected between the bottom insulator 2 and the clamp 3, and a ring structure 6 constituting the invention.

The ring structure 6 comprises a one-piece torus 8 of solid circular cross-sectional area having a substantially radial saw-cut 9 therein and a supporting arm 10 that, at its outer end, spans the cut and projects from a single local position on the ring, with its longitudinal axis substantially in the plane of the cut, to a position near the longitudinal axis of the insulator, on the link 5.

The torus 8 and the arm 10 may be constructed of any suitable material but are preferably constructed of galvanized steel and welded together, at one end 12 of the torus 8, as indicated by a body 14 of welding metal.

The arm 10, preferably of flat strap form, is provided at its outer end with a hole 16 for the reception of a stud or bolt 15, in the other end 17 of the torus 9. The arm further, extends inwardly and downwardly to a. position adjacent to the link 5 to which it is attached by bolts 19 and a clamping member 20.

Referring to Fig. 4, in constructing the torus 8, an initially continuous body of the material thereof is wound into a helix and cut, by a single continuous cutting operation 4 to provide a pluralit of the tori, each of the same size and character-and each having the saw cut 9 at the same position therein.

Each torus is therefore initially of helical form, as shown in Fig. 5, to the end 12 of which the arm 10 is welded, as above described and in the end 17 of which a hole is drilled or drilled and tapped for the reception of the bolt 15.

The torus 8, in this helical form and with the arm 10 welded thereto, is ready for installation, either in connection with a new installation of insulators or in connection with insulators already installed.

The pitch of the helix is preferably such that the ends 12 and 17 are naturally laterally offset about half the distance necessary to pass the conductor 4 therebetween. ThlS feature is provided to facilitate spr' g the ends further apart to admit the conductor 4 and forcing them together to have all parts of the helix in the same plane to form a Ii mounting the torus on an insulator structure already in service, the ends 12 and 17 are forced further apart, from the positions indicated in Fig. 5, and the torus is turned about its axis of symmetry, as with a screw motion, to thread the rin around and over the" conductor 4 and aroun the axis of the insulator.

When over the conductor, as indicated in Figs. 1 and 2, the ends 12 and 17 are sprung together and secured to each other by the bolt 15, with which a lock washer 23 and a nut 24 cooperate. The bolt 15 may be permanently mounted in the end 17 or placed therein during the installation ofthe ring.

Thus, a one-piece ring is provided which is of ready and economical quantity production and which facilitates its mounting and dismounting relative to insulators in servme.

The modification of my invention, illustrated in Fig. 6, embodies a tubular helix 25 for the ring 2, which may be wound and cut as above described.

In this form the end 12 may be secured to the ring 10 by a bolt 26 that extends through only the bottom side of the tube and is welded thereto, by a body of material 27. Similarly, the bolt 15 ma extend throu h only the bottom side of t e end 12 and permanently secured by a body 28 of weldin materi ince the ring and its supporting arm are welded together, a one-piece or homogeneously-united unit embodying a complete ring and its supporting means, is provided and it is not known to me that any similar com .pletecompact and economical structure having the same features or the several advantages thereof, has ever before been suggested.

I claim as my invention:

1. A transmission-line device comp a one-piece ring rtion havin laceable ends permitting t e ring to be p 9. around, and removed from, an insulator, while the nsulator is connected to its support and to a conductor, and a supporting element to.

a conductor, and a radially-inwardly-projecting supporting element spanning said ends, one of said ends being permanently, and the other separably, secured to said element.

3. A transmission-line device comprising a. one-piece ring portion having separable ends and a supporting element projecting from a single local position only on the ring portion adjacent to one of said ends.

4. A transmission-line device comprising an electrostatic-field-control element of substantially closed-loop shape and a supporting element therefor cooperating therewith at a single local osition thereof only and adapted to hold the element in predetermined operative relation to said field.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name this 26th day of April, 1927.

GEORGE M. EATON. 

